![]() ![]() There is also a deck of cards which has elements and tools in it. Each of these stacks gets an animal marker placed on top of it. The game has a number of tiles, each depicting a different part of a garden: ornamental grasses, cabins and temples, trellises, docks, rock formations, etc. I never thought I'd say this, but: murder mystery be damned.In Horticulture Master, players vie to have the most beautiful garden on their board. I want an endless shop mode where I sit in the shop, listening to the rain outside, and sell someone a Sunset Mountcap, explaining that it is sometimes called Stinking Mountcap, and pointing out the telltale flies that circle it. I will know which of these flowers is poisonous and which is the antidote. I will move pots around on shelves and inhale different scents. No auto-labelling for me, no: I will carefully catalogue all the plants you bring me. Sometimes you won't have found that particular plant yet, so you must explore! Running Strange Horticulture is a mystery in and of itself. Sometimes you must look carefully at the sketches and eliminate the wrong answer by comparing the waxiness of leaves or counting the number of petals. Sometimes you must find a plant by comparing it to one you already know. ![]() But I am most in love with being a strange plant shopkeeper. The ongoing mystery is intriguing, and near the end of the preview build it included a strange plant-based apocalytpic cult who solicited me to join them. So do you give her a plant that will protect her and help her sleep, or one that will amplify her powers even further? One woman, a psychic, is having terrible visions in her dreams. There is a small cast of characters who have their own evolving stories - regulars, if you will. I didn't want them to see what I had discovered, or the strange contraptions I was working on. In between customers I would pore over the map with these clues - one that I enjoyed in particular was just a torn card with a pencilled X, as well as another that asked me to find the intersecting point between four locations - and would quickly return my papers and letters to my desk drawer as a new customer approached. Later, as you receive strange clues in dreams and follow them to find new and exciting plants in strange swampy locations in the area, I became increasingly suspicious. And in time, and as I arranged and rearranged my colourful specimens, I got to recognise old friends like Lemon Dandy, Fox Button and St. Mmyeees, the Ws are just this way." Though of course, my customer would be afraid to follow, given how deeply odd both I and my shop are. ![]() At first I had my plants organised by colour, which I thought looked very nice:īut then, as I got a couple of requests for something I'd already identified, I changed to an alphabetical system for labelled plants: I'm sure we can help you with that," I'd murmur, before turning to my shelves. I ran my mouse down the list of plant names in my book, as if carefully running my finger along the thick paper, to give the customer a show. The longer I played, the deeper I sank into the role. You open your big book o' plants to find a description and sketch of it, and then peruse the rustling fellows on your shelf. Then ask for a plant they've heard will help. Someone will come forward and describe a problem. And it is so deliciously methodical, running Strange Horticulture. But in this game, I am the expert that people come to for help. In real life, I am not good at plants, which is why the ones I have include traits like "handles neglect well". But it still rains, and your cat still looks up with annoyance when you ding the bell to call in the next customer. There's an option to automatically label plants once you've identified them. Your hidden draw of knick-knacks is a little easier to organise, your tools for examining plants a little slicker and quicker to use. The preview build itself has had some improvements compared to the demo. But what care I for that? I am deep role-playing as a horticulturist. There is a strange mystery, involving cultist and murder - a stranger in a beautiful jade mask comes to the shop, sometimes, as well as the detective struggling to solve a number of troubling murders in the area. You inherit this shop, along with its secrets, a folding map of the area to go exploring, and shelves of odd plant specimins. What a world that would be! Certainly a world with more plant shops, anyway, though probably not (m)any as strange as Strange Horticulture. Imagine if all the horrible shouting griefers playing war games put down their weapons and picked up a strange plant and a taxonomic tome. I do not understand why this is not everyone's most anticipated game ever. I immediately fell in love with Strange Horticulture when I played the demo, and now I've had a few hours with a longer, more polished preview build I am even more in loverer. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |